RETAIL : Anaheim’s Clothestime Hopes to Be a Size-1,000 Chain by the Year 2000

Flush with its recent financial success, Clothestime has set a goal of 1,000 stores by the year 2000, which would more than double the present chain’s size.

The Anaheim-based company is betting that its off-price, name-brand approach in selling young women’s apparel will prove a winning formula even when the economy picks up.

Norman Abramson, the company’s president, told a recent gathering for high-growth companies sponsored by the PaineWebber stock brokerage that Clothestime plans to continue its rapid expansion. The chain has plans to open 65 new stores this year and 75 next year.

The chain will concentrate on selling only in-season, quality merchandise by using its clout with manufacturers to wangle deep discounts, which can be passed on to the customer.

At the same time, it is continuing to place its new stores in lower-price strip centers rather than major shopping malls and has expanded its marketing mix to include radio and in-store promotions, besides just TV ads.

The chain, according to Abramson, has “$30 million in cash, $30 million in unsecured and unused lines of credit and no long-term debt.” From its start in 1974 with a single store in Orange, Clothestime now has 436 stores.